May 2023

May Thought of the Month

"Open your mind a little, don't believe everything you hear, see, or read. The world is so caught up in trying to avoid the topics that matter that you'll lose yourself trying to become like it."

~ Nikki Rowe

We live in a world where reality has to compete with deep fake images, where news agencies are more interested in getting a story out ahead of the competition than taking time to confirm its accuracy. Lies and manipulation seem to be the rule rather than the exception in leadership. Not that long ago there were only three sources of news in the U.S.: ABC, CBS, and NBC, four if you were lucky to have access to a PBS channel. In 2022 there were nearly 1800 TV channels, many with their own news programming.

The plus to that is we can access more information than ever and aren't limited to what the major networks decide we need to know. However, there is also a lot more disinformation in the mix. It's up to us to make the extra effort to find the truth at the core of what we read/see/hear in our news sources.

More than ever, we need to cultivate critical thinking* in ourselves and others. Find courses online, check out books from your public library or buy them and support your local bookstores. Then practice what you learn. Keep learning and keep thinking for yourself. Don't let the pundents and politicians tell you what to think.

We have free public schools because our founding fathers believed that a properly educated populace — people able to analyze situations and come to logical conclusions — was the best way to insure the success of the great experiment that is the United States. It's up to us to make sure we are the citizens they envisioned.

*See "13 Easy Steps To Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills" (Forbes Magazine, August 2022).

[Thought and image design by Elaine C. Oldham]